13 Menu Items To Avoid Ordering From LongHorn Steakhouse, According To Reviews

Compared to other steakhouse chains, LongHorn Steakhouse has a pretty sterling reputation. The menu offerings are quite affordable but have continued to satisfy discerning customers time after time again due to the quality dishes and innovative takes on classic steak and other meat-based dishes. Named for the iconic steers that once roamed across the state of Texas, this steakhouse chain is a go-to for diners with a love for grilled meat and a fondness for classic American rusticism.

Among most value steakhouses, LongHorn boasts a pretty steady amount of daily foot traffic. It goes without saying that people want to make sure their affordable, luxurious experience is worth it. As such, customers become quite discerning critics when it comes to which dishes stick the landing and which miss the mark. After scouring through many of these critiques, reviews, and written summaries of these customers' experience, we've put together a comprehensive list of the dishes that you're better off avoiding the next time you're dining at LongHorn Steakhouse.

Compared to beef, lamb is a tricky meat to master. It's got a leaner consistency and a distinct, gamey flavor that needs to be treated with carefully measured herbs, spices, and other seasonings to draw out the meat's inner umami. Grilled lamb chops have the potential to showcase both the quality of the meat as well as the talent of the cook preparing the dish, and according to customers, LongHorn's take on the grilled lamb chop fails to do either.

The chain's attempt at the dish is far from stellar. The texture of the lamb chop has been reported to be both dry and tough, with some claiming that there's far too little meat on the bone to justify the asking price of the chain. Not only that, but what meat is left has not been cooked to a level where customers felt safe in taking another bite. That's a huge red flag in dining, especially where there's meat involved.

While customers have reported differing qualities of lamb chop dishes served at LongHorn's, the general consensus is that the lamb has not withstood the test of time and consistency. The dish ranges from mediocre to downright unsafe, which leads the majority of patrons to look elsewhere for a suitable mutton chop.

It's generally agreed upon that the majority of LongHorn's sides are nothing to write home about. After all, the chain is a purported steakhouse, and plant-based sides tend to be a weak point in such establishments. One particular side, however, has been raking in heaps of underwhelming reviews: LongHorn's loaded baked potatoes. In fact, its most unifying feature is its consistently mediocre performance.

While the baked potato dish isn't necessarily a travesty or food safety hazard, it's been a continued source of disappointment for customers. The menu highlights the baked potato's various accoutrements, such as its toppings of apple-wood smoked bacon, sour cream, cheddar cheese, butter, and green onions, but what arrives is a pale imitation of what's described. Not only is the potato often undercooked, resulting in a cold center or a mushy exterior, but the chain is often stingy with the toppings that are supposed to "overload" the dish, as per its description. Other times, when customers sent back their cold potatoes to get warmed up, they reported that the dish came back obviously microwaved, which took away from the overall quality of the dish and their enjoyment overall. Because of this, it's better to just pass on the potato dish and find something a little less notorious for its poor quality.

Salmon is often treated rather poorly at chain restaurants. In a busy line kitchen, the fish can be easily overcooked during the rush, leading to a dry texture and a gritty aftertaste that can put a damper on an otherwise raucous evening. It takes a delicate hand and a close eye for detail to cook up a delicious, melting salmon that retains its tender juiciness. Unfortunately, LongHorn Steakhouse hasn't been able to hit that mark yet with its signature salmon fillet dish.

According to the menu, the LongHorn salmon is a product of decades of experience. The menu claims that its signature marinade recipe dates all the way back to 1987, created by the founder George McKerrow Jr. himself. However, no such storied longevity is to be found in the dish served by the chain today. When highlighting their grievances with the salmon fillet, customers drew attention to its lack of flavor. The salmon was served cold and dry, missing that extra touch to retain its tenderness or juiciness. While some customers are divided on whether the salmon's exterior flaky crust is delectable or disastrous, it seems better to just steer clear of this fishy business altogether.

A classic Caesar salad is the it girl of salad dishes. It's a simple but beloved dish that's easy to elevate in classy settings and difficult to botch in cheaper ones. However, like most dishes heavily reliant on its freshness, the crux of a salad hinges on how the kitchen prepares and sources its raw produce. Without this care and preparation, the resulting dish becomes nearly inedible due to badly handled ingredients. After all, cooking or grilling something can still salvage some disasters in the kitchen, but that's not possible with a salad. According to reviews, the LongHorn Caesar Salad is one of these victims of poor ingredient handling.

Customers called attention towards the lack of fresh ingredients in their salads. The leaves were reported to be browning or oily in texture, and still others reported a distinct lack of crunch in their lettuce, hinting at a lack of freshness. Lettuce goes bad within 10 days if not stored and washed properly, though some varieties may last longer depending on how they're handled and kept. As such, it can only be assumed that certain restaurants under the LongHorn chain have missed the mark when it comes to preserving their lettuce and other plant-based ingredients for their salads to a consistent level.

What comes to mind when picturing a perfectly done, delicious cut of beef tenderloin? Usually, it's the star of the holiday table, the centerpiece of a banquet of other luxurious dishes. A proper beef tenderloin is highly prized for its tender cut and for housing the prized filet mignon, and it's no wonder that the quality dish is considered a luxury and an unforgettable experience. However, there's nothing worse than when quality is treated carelessly, and that seems to be the case with LongHorn's Beef Tenderloin Roast.

Customers have a lot to say about the roast, mainly regarding its lack of cohesion and quality. A proper tenderloin should be buttery and melt-in-your-mouth tender, and multiple reviews recall a dry, tough meat. The overall quality of the roast was also called into question, as the meat often arrived overcooked or poorly prepared. Sometimes the dish was even served severely undercooked, resulting in very pink, visibly raw meat that many would balk to take a bite out of. With such inconsistency in quality, the tenderloin roast is not worth the gamble, especially when considering the hefty price tag attached to such a dicey experience. In short, save your time and money and look elsewhere for quality.

LongHorn describes the signature porterhouse steak as "the biggest steak in the game wearing [their] name," and the menu certainly dresses up the huge cut of beef as something impressive, expertly grilled, and positively dripping with the promise of bursting flavor. However, some of the chain's clientele beg to differ. What should be the crowning feather in LongHorn's cap has instead failed to live up to its in-house description.

Customers have pointed out a variety of ways in which this dish has disappointed them. First, the texture is nothing to write home about. The titular porterhouse steak has been unfavorably compared to hamburger meat, which is an unfortunate comparison when considering that hamburger meat is often ground and as a result, dense and chewy. These are not words you want to describe a porterhouse cut, which ideally should be thick and lush. In addition, the porterhouse lacked taste and texture, with some pointing out that this could have resulted from the steak being frozen and over-tenderized multiple times, leading to a mushy, watery flavor.

On top of that, the overall size has also been another deterrent to the dish's success, with some customers referring to the wingspan of the cut puffed-up and extreme, which bodes poorly for anyone looking to try the dish for themselves. Overall, it seems that this big steak fails to walk the talk, and that it's better to look elsewhere for a bombshell performance.

Well-cooked broccoli is a simple but delightful addition to any meal. Nutritious, colorful, and playful in texture, steamed broccoli is a crunchy palette cleaner between heavy bites of steak or grilled meat, and it's no wonder that so many restaurants have perfected their broccoli sides to accommodate the main dishes. However, it's also easy to slip into the common pitfall of failing to elevate a simple vegetable dish and presenting a rather lackluster side to the table. That seems to be the case with LonHorn's broccoli side as evidenced by customer feedback.

Broccoli is one of those vegetables that's pretty easy to flub, especially considering its innate grassy flavor and overall texture. Nevertheless, there are plenty of ways to minimize these qualities and elevate broccoli into a delicious treat, and LongHorn has failed to hit the mark even with all these methods in mind. Customers shared how their broccoli was under-steamed in direct contrast to the menu description. The result of under-steamed broccoli can come off as very dry and difficult to chew, which is a sure indicator that you're better off finding some other vegetable side to snack on.

A shrimp and lobster chowder sounds like the perfect seafood side to satisfy your oceanic cravings. After all, what can be better on a chilly day than to warm up with a thick, creamy soup featuring hearty chunks of the sea's most beloved crustaceans? Unfortunately, that dish does not exist in this ideal image at LongHorn, though you're bound to find a pale imitation of that delicious chowder. LongHorn's version of this classic dish regrettably has the infamy to appear on several customers' lists of chain restaurant's soups to avoid for several pretty unavoidable reasons.

Supposedly, the chowder doesn't even feature any real shrimp or lobster chunks at all. That's right; the very description of this dish is misleading. According to fans and critics alike, the chowder so-called "loaded with shrimp and lobster" in fact uses a lobster-flavored cream base in a vain attempt to pass over the fact that there aren't any lobster chunks in the soup at all.

What's left in the soup are bits of corn, potatoes, and red bell peppers, which take up so much of the overall flavor of the soup that you would be hard-pressed to realize that there are, in fact, tiny bits of shrimp meat inside, as well. These shrimp pieces are very small and are barely enough to justify the "loaded" description at all. Texture-wise, the shrimp bits are also quite chewy and rubbery, resulting in an unfortunate aftertaste you're better off avoiding altogether.

A good ribeye is the keystone to a good steakhouse menu. If done well, it's a beloved classic thanks to its heartiness, accessibility, and natural marbling. If done poorly, its good features can quickly turn south, resulting in a poor experience that'll leave diners wanting more. LongHorn customers have reported that most of their experiences with the ribeye steak falls more in the latter category, resulting in an unanimous decision to leave the dish be.

The LongHorn ribeye has been reported to be inconsistent in its serving sizes, with some ordering their ribeye at 12 ounces and others requesting theirs to be 20 ounces in size, and discovering upon their dishes' arrival that both cuts were identical in size. This inconsistency is egregious enough on its own, but customers go on to share that the LongHorn ribeye can also be frequently over seasoned, resulting in an overwhelmingly salty cut of meat that they can barely get through without frequent sips of water or some mundane side.

The ribeye is also a frequent victim of poor-quality grilling, as some of LongHorn's clientele report the steaks to be raw, tough, or chewy, all of which point to a bad preparation method or poor handling of the meat overall. A distinct taste of lighter fluid was also reported, which is a frequent amateur indication of a bad grill and not something you want to find in a professional steakhouse restaurant.

As one of the thicker cuts of meat, sirloin can be tricky to perfect. It's distinctly dense in texture and beefy in flavor, which can be difficult to work around. Seasoning and proper grilling can render a quality piece of sirloin absolutely delicious and dripping with flavor, but a careless hand can also ruin the meat as easily as anything. LongHorn unfortunately fails to hit the mark with the Renegade sirloin due to these common pitfalls of mishandling this thick cut of meat, and customers have the receipts to prove it.

According to the menu, the LongHorn take on the sirloin steak is seasoned heavily with the unique Prairie Dust seasoning, which consists of black pepper, cayenne, coriander, paprika, and turmeric. This is supposedly added before grilling, but it seems that most of these flavors are lost among customers' palettes upon serving, which resulted in a bland and thick cut of steak. There's nothing worse than being served a flavorless hunk of dense beef gristle at an established steakhouse, so sirloin lovers are encouraged to look elsewhere to satisfy their meat cravings.

It's difficult to butcher a classic American-style burger. Then again, it's also easy to find many middling burgers due to poor-quality ingredients, improper handling of said ingredients, and just a lack of skill on the grill and assembly counter. It's also pretty unanimous that the worst of burgers taste artificial, pre-packaged, or microwaved, resulting in a dystopian experience that bodes poorly for your future gut health. While the signature burger from LongHorn doesn't quite fall into the most egregious pitfalls of a bad burger, it still racks up plenty of misses with customers in regards to its poor taste, lackluster preparation, and overall absence of freshness.

According to customer reviews, the LongHorn burger is one of the weaker entries in the chain's menu for its overall artificiality. Its presentation lacked originality, and one reviewer noted the patty was a particular standout for being "too perfectly uniform," hinting at a pre-packaged background. The various other accoutrements typical for a burger such as lettuce, onion, tomato, pickles, the chain's signature burger sauce, and cheese are also nothing to write home about. While the burger is reportedly dense enough to be quite filling, the overall experience is not worth your time or money.

One of those ubiquitous strip mall dishes, lemon chicken boasts a multicultural background. Primarily influenced by American Chinese cooking, the dish has become a litmus test for quality; some lemon chicken dishes can be mind-bogglingly delicious, while other interpretations of the dish can be sadly indicative of its cheap price. Most of the time, however, mediocrity is most often the name of the lemon chicken game, and the LongHorn interpretation of this garlicky, acidic dish falls in the middling range of quality according to customer feedback.

This is the one dish where the menu actually delivers on their promise, albeit in the opposite direction they're probably intending. LongHorn promises a "light" grilled chicken breast served in a house-made lemon garlic butter sauce with parsley, but the actual result most diners find on their plate lacks subtlety in the seasoning. The dish has been reported to be salty and over-seasoned, not quite delivering on that light, gentle flavoring the chain has promised. On top of that, the chicken tends to veer into overcooked territory, which pairs rather poorly with the over-seasoned flavor. In short, you're better off finding far better lemon chicken dishes from your favorite strip mall joint.

On paper, LongHorn's Maverick Ribeye Sandwich sounds like a meat-lover's dream. Indulgent, hearty, and flavorful, this steak sandwich promises a juicy ribeye steak with house-made seasoning, sautéed onions and melted Swiss cheese served on thick slabs of bread. But ribeye steaks, like we've discovered earlier, can quickly become dense and chewy if not prepared well. According to LongHorn customers, the Maverick sandwich brings out the worst in these cuts of ribeye steak due to these common meat preparation faults.

While the onions do a good job in cutting through the thick cut of steak, they're not quite enough to lighten the fatty bits of the ribeye altogether. Some customers have also reported bits of the steak becoming gristle when they took a bite, which is an infamous killjoy when trying to enjoy a solid piece of meat. While you can easily use utensils to saw away those bits of tough gristle, it's much more difficult to accomplish that when eating a steak sandwich, so diners are encouraged to eat elsewhere for a quality steak sandwich.